808 The Movie The Greatest Drum Machine Ever

By Stephen Pate – Apple exclusively released 808 – The Movie today on iTunes. 808 The Moviewas previewed already as a streamed on Apple Music.

During the late 70’s Roland created the one machine that would re-define music for the next 30 years – the Roland TR 808.

Electronica, hip-hop, rap, dance it all came from the TR 808, a machine that was only made for 4 years before Roland discontinued it for a newer model. Hip-hop artists picked them up in used shops and incorporated them into their sound.

Even Bob Dylan has used an 808 – yup. Well his producer Daniel Lanois used one.

“I first heard Most of the Time at Bob’s house,” Lanois told Brad Wheeler of the Globe and Mail where he played it for me on the piano and sang it. … The core of the song was Bob and me, sitting close to each other in two chairs. It was essentially recorded in my kitchen in New Orleans. I used a Roland TR-808 beat box piped through a stage monitor, so I knew the song could be rhythmically viable because it had metronomic time; I could add instruments to it.”

808 The Movie is fun to watch. It demonstrates how important the TR 808 is to our music and how great artists use it.

Even more fun is to own one and create the music yourself. The original 808 sold for $1,195 but used ones now go for $3,500 to $10,000. Those used expensive 808’s are old and usually in bad repair.

Luckily, Roland has released a cool new digital version the Aira TR 8 which sells for a modest $500. Not only is the Roland TR 8 easy to get, it also has the drum sounds of Roland’s TR 909 drum machine. If you run out of ideas, you can be upgrade the TR-8 to include the TR-707 and TR-727 drum machines.

Purists will argue you need to get one of those old 808’s to get the sound. The new TR-8 is easier to use, has more sounds and more flexibility.